NSA chief, intelligence director won't comment on Trump conversations

After the meeting, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and Mike Pompeo, who heads the Central Intelligence Agency. It also comes as the committee is deep into an investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the presidential election and any potential contacts between those efforts and Mr. Trump's campaign.

The top Democrat on the committee said media reports that Trump tried to intervene in the probes are jarring.

The bill is scheduled to head to the Senate Judiciary Committee first.

"And the conversations that the president had with each of them about investigations are not classified in any way".

The hearing also comes the morning after news broke that Trump and Sessions have had a series of heated exchanges in the last several weeks, after Sessions recused himself from the Russian Federation probe, according to a source close to Sessions.

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe refused to answer questions about whether Comey told him about his discussions with Trump, including whether Trump asked Comey to pledge loyalty to the president.

James Comey reportedly will not accuse President Trump of obstructing justice when the former Federal Bureau of Investigation chief testifies before the Senate intelligence committee Thursday. The White House referred questions to outside lawyers, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The president has repeatedly called for an end to the Russian investigation in his public remarks.

"Is that the rule for the President of the United States as well?"

The incidents suggest that Trump may not have appreciated the traditional barriers meant to insulate the intelligence agencies from politics. Rosenstein would not answer questions Wednesday about Comey's firing.

It has been reported Trump asked two of the witnesses to publicly state there was no evidence that his campaign colluded with Russian Federation during the election.

NSA Director Mike Rogers says he has not yet received an answer from the White House about whether the president meant to invoke the authority afforded to him to withhold certain communications from the public.

It's been reported that Trump asked Rogers to publicly state that there is no evidence that there was collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

"I do not share with the general public conversations that I have with the President or many of my colleagues within the administration that I believe should not be shared", Coats repeated. And that's something the intelligence community really wants.

Officials say Trump's advisers have since revived their proposal to appoint Feinberg to a senior position, possibly to review the roles of the DNI and other intelligence agencies.

5. Will the White House exercise executive privilege? Under questioning by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Coats said that if asked, he would provide details of his conversations with Trump to Mueller.

We're now confronted with a Washington Post report that says the current president may have personally spoken to intelligence officials about intervening in an ongoing FBI investigation into a top Trump aide.

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